Monday, December 28, 2009

Hey guys. I am laid up with a cold, so I am letting my cat do today's post. He is not a very good typist, but he's pretty good with my video camera. Enjoy.

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Alright. I'm feeling better and not all hopped up on cough syrup, so I'll post my opinions on this thing (you didn't think my cat and I had the same opinions did you? Fucker voted for Pat Buchanan.)

I will admit that this thing is visually pretty. It is kind of cool to see, visually, that a simple jump would allow you to exit the gravity of Mars's moons. You may actually even think this is a clever visual depiction, however, this concept reallyisn'tnewatall. Hey, don't get me wrong-- big props to Randall for making it eye catching-- but he certainly isn't breaking new ground here.

There are other issues here, most of which you guys have pointed out already. In some instances, the people and objects in the well are to scale, but not in others. The whole POINT of visual depictions like this is to make it easy for people to wrap their heads around just how weak/strong these gravitational pulls are. The inconsistency in whether the people are to scale or not just makes it confusing; it looks like misquoting Carl Sagan dude can literally tiptoe off Neptune, which is obviously not the case.

Then there's the "your mom" joke. Don't get me wrong; I love "your mom" jokes as much as the next New Jersey douchebag. However, you've got this whole poster (let's call a spade a spade, alright?) chock full of factoids, so the lone joke feels out of place. It's almost like Randall didn't think the comic could stand alone as a pretty, informative work, so he slapped a "your mom" joke on there and called it a day. I agree with what Rob had to say about this-- either pepper the entire poster with jokes (the Titan things and Sagan aren't jokes, just cute,) or don't at all.

------------------------HI GUYS it's Carl here, invading Aloria's post in order to add a little more anger. I thought this comic was awful.

First off, it is boring. We all know - because he told us - that Randall loves reading The Visual Display of Quantitative Information by Edward Tufte, so I guess he occasionally uses xkcd as a place to try out some experiments. But this one doesn't work. We know that Jupiter is way bigger (ok fine, "more massive") than all the other planets, and in fact all the gravity wells are basically in correspondence with what you would expect, given their sizes. So I'm not sure what the point is.

In theory, it's to give you a sense of how hard it would be to escape the gravity of the various planets and moons. But it doesn't really work - we're supposed to see the walls of each well and imagine how hard it would be, at a human scale, to get something out of the well, and thus out of orbit. But the only human included in the main picture, the one at Neptune, is obviously not to scale. The human standing on Deimos in one of the insets looks like he could get out of the well with very little effort, though we are told that it would take a bike and a ramp to get him out.

I also don't understand some of the peaks between the wells, most notably the one between Mars and Ganymede.

So the chart is confusing and boring, two things that I am sure it is not trying to be. So it fails on those counts.

The last overly-complex comic he made was the Movie Narratives chart, and back when he made that, I wrote two things about it that I think are worth mentioning now:

But is there anyone out there who seriously doubts that this will not be turned into a poster, probably before christmas, and that Randall had this in mind when he made it?

Clearly my prediction was wrong, and this is still not available as a poster. So I admit that I was overly critical on that one, and Randall did not act as lame or pathetic as I said he would. That's nice. Likewise, I think this comic feels like an advertisement for a soon-to-be-available poster, but until that is actually the case, I for one will not say anything.

I also wrote

But of course, xkcd is a comic, and so it can't just show you something cool, no matter how cool it is. It has to make a joke.

And here we have that once more. Like the product descriptions in the xkcd store, this comic is an unfunny thing with bad jokes smacked onto it just for the sake of it having jokes. In this case it looks like there are two references (Sagan and Titan) and one joke ("Your mom is so fat she attracts football players into her orbit"). The joke is not even connected to any other part of the comic, it's just filling in white space (alas, he ran out of equations before he ran out of space).

I think if he is trying to write a comic he should focus on writing jokes, and if he wants to make visual displays of quantitative information, he should write a goddamned illustrated picto-blog.

I think the "I hope you don't mind" line could've gone with a creepy ;) emoticon, just to relive those "hi a/s/l" days.

Also, the weird thing is that that cat does indeed look like Jabba, but rather than the one from Return or the CGI ones after that, he looks like the Jabba that was just a guy in a furry coat that got cut out of A New Hope and later got put back in only with a CGI jabba covering him.

This graph actually has no punchline (as opposed to the timeline one), so he decided to put a senseless your mom joke. I think lot of effort was put here towards making it factually valid, he could have used the same effort to make a realistic primer timeline in the earlier chart.

The new year's comic will probably be about detonating fireworks by using laptop and wi-fi. Because laptops and wireless connections are hilarious, right?

This "comic" (I'm going to call it a poster from now on because that's what it is) clearly took some time to create. It's definitely a clever idea since the "potential well" model has been a classic way of representing energy distributions. The scaling method that Randall used is definitely a great idea.

I imagine that he thought he was being cute with the your mom joke; I imagine that he intended for it to be a funny little aside, just as the characters swimming in Titan or whatever their doing.

I liked the character timeline poster because its humor was derived directly from the subject matter (12 Angry Men was very linear, Primer was confusing). The "funniness" here simply doesn't do it; it would have been better without the jokes because they detract from the fact that Randall clearly took some time to create this.

I just got back from the xkcd store to see if this was for sale yet. (It's not, but I guess Randall has to make it look like this isn't just a poster advert and wait a bit.) I did notice something about the Mr. Hat polo: HIS FUCKING HEAD IS DISCONNECTED. I know that it is a lot of work to delay a comic for 10 seconds to clean up some mistakes, but not taking the time to draw a stick figure well for something people will spend money on is out-fucking-rageous.

That, or pedantry insisting the decade started at 1 so it's not over until Dec 31, 2010*... you know, the same shit every know-it-all would bring up when people were celebrating the new millennium as 2000 instead of 2001.

You know, if this wasn't full of stupid shit like "your mom" jokes and references that I totally didn't get and couldn't even be bothered to look up, I would buy a poster of this. Why do you have to fuck up a good thing like this with lame shit, Randall?

anyway even if he is, even if this latest comic is just a greedy excuse for duping folks into lining his pockets...that doesn't decide whether the comic good or bad.

i mean the motivations behind Triumph of the Will are pretty despicable...but at the same time...it's a pretty good film. in a certain sense of the word.

so regardless of the pocket-lining that randall may/may not be doing here, you're not really tackling the question of 'is it a good/decent/tolerable/at least not a creepy meme-based beret guy-based comic?'

I AM NOT ARGUING FOR DEATH OF THE AUTHOR OR INTENTIONAL FALLACY OR SUCH so don't bother trying to talk me down from there.

That stick figure that says "An even more glorious dawn awaits" is supposed to be a reference to Carl Sagan, but Randall fucked it up. It's supposed to be "A still more glorious dawn awaits". He should have been more meticulous in making this comic. This mistake not only ruined #681, but also the rest of his comics.

I completely agree. It is a kitty. I also concur that Randall is just trying to make cash. Forget the fact that he probably enjoyed making this comic. Forget that it is his job to make things like this and sell it. I fucking hate this comic because the only point to it is to make money.

I think this post would have been better if it were just a video of the cat sitting there with no text because there really isn't anything to say about this comic. It's interesting, but there's no joke and there's not really any point to it.

It's the kind of thing you post on your blog. There's nothing more going on here than Randall saying "Hey, isn't this cool?" and everyone agreeing that it is indeed cool. Why even bother posting it as a comic strip when you can just sell it as a poster in the XKCD store?

Guys, I'm gonna keep pushing that we use the term "update" to refer to Randall's material. Clearly "comic" is too loaded a term, since that implies that it ought to be funny or interesting or worthwhile in someway. "Exploitative cash grab" might be descriptively accurate, but I'd like to spare Rob and Carl the angry letters. "Update" should be sufficiently neutral and general to be acceptable.

Although Randall still bills XKCD as a "comic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language" so mabye I should email him.

Actually, pretty much all of that tagline is inaccurate. Unless Randall thinks his cringing odes to Nice GuyTM stalkers are about romance, and he thinks that having no idea how to write dialogue that is verisimilitudinous or funny or interesting or concise or any generally-recognized form of valuable is somehow consistent with writing a comic about language.

Someone emailed me this "update" to randals picto-blog, with the subject "amazing chart drawn by autistic man-child".They genuinely thought randy was austistic. Even his name sounds autistic. Who names their kid randy or randall? Radall sounds like the name of a fucking villian from some kids show...Hang on, wasn't Randall that weird monster from monsters Inc who harvests screams?

It's times like this where I am reminded of the simple morals we learned from our childhood tales. To wit: It is a fool's prerogative to point out the nakedness of the Emperor. In the end, the Emperor is still the Emperor and the fool is still a fool.

Recognising your status, try to have a Happy New Year anyway. Don't mind the titters.

I thought it was an interesting chart, but I did get annoyed that the people are to scale on one part but not another. It makes it look like you could use a bike and ramp to jump the space shuttle. Basically, at one point he used people to illustrate scale, but at another he used a person to explain something with a bunch of text even though most of the explanations are blocks of text without people.

> That, or pedantry insisting the decade started at 1 so > it's not over until Dec 31, 2010*... you know, the same > shit every know-it-all would bring up when people were > celebrating the new millennium as 2000 instead of 2001.

You probably shouldn't try to be so humorous when criticizing a webcomic. If you critique it well, but fail at being funny, people will focus on that and not on your valid critique. I'm not commenting on this post(which I didn't particularly like). I'm just speaking generally.

I do dislike the "blatant poster grab" comment, which was the only negative thing said. This blog continually criticizes Randall for doing the same thing over and over. Then, when he uses a format that is unlike standard comics you automatically call it a poster grab.

"This blog continually criticizes Randall for doing the same thing over and over. Then, when he uses a format that is unlike standard comics you automatically call it a poster grab."

The "chart" format is not particularly news in the webcomic world, ESPECIALLY in the xkcd world. And I think the point is that THIS particular update smells of poster grab. For one:

1) On first glance, it promises way more information and cleverness than it actually delivers.2) This is just the same tired and old "science is FASHIONABLE" stuff done for wannabes. I'm ALL for people developing interest in science and finding ways of making it accessible. Heck, I like the Mythbusters for that, even knowing that they're more entertainment than science (which is perfectly valid!). But this is more fashion than content; it's just a smartass way of saying something to people who already know it. Someone who barely knows anything about gravity will make nothing out of a chart like this, and people who already know it would just be somewhat wowed by the cleverness.

I think Randall should focus either on actual scientific *content* or on joke material. "Height" and "Depth", aside from the awful missteps (Vista exorcism, etc.), are fairly enjoyable.

While I may disagree with you, Fernie Canto, I thank you for giving your reasons for calling it a poster grab. The post did not give the reasoning. That is why I used the word automatically.

As for what you said...

If I were a dick, I would point out that you said "For one:" and then gave two reasons. But, I am not a dick, so I won't mention it. Personally, I didn't smell poster grab. It seems like a logical way to present that information. If that breaks out of the standard panel style of comics, so be it. As far you thinking Randall should focus on scientific or joke material(one or the other, right?), xkcd was always a mix of the two. I don't see the need for him to pick one or the other.

@Rob: in Britain, indie can be used as a genre! We generally use it to refer to what you call "alternative rock", especially the rockier end thereof - Arctic Monkeys, Kaiser Chiefs etc - even if they aren't actually on independent labels! But the cuddlefish was not British, so it does not matter. If they had been, they would have spelt it "purveyours".

Anyway! If I was a more cynical person, I would suspect that, in fact, it was not the cat that wrote this post, but aloria, under a false name - a nom de plume, a guise - to beguile and trick us.Still, it is accurate. Randall Munroe's Illustrated Picto-Blog strikes again!

Honestly. This thing had zero humor. I searched it, desperately seeking out something which would at least cause my lips to twist into that terrible half-grin that XKCD sometimes inspires, indicating that at least there was an attempt at humor contained within the post.

Sorry, if you're making a comic, you should at least be trying to make it funny. People may be "impressed" or "awed" by how "awesome" this "comic" was, but I think they are just using it as an esxuse to explain away how horrible it really is with regards to humor. Even the alt text was just an explanation of the thing for people who were not entirely sure what was going on - almost as if to verify, "No, there really is no joke here. You can stop looking now."

Alright, so sure - there were some jokes thrown in there for fun and profit, but they really seem like after thoughts, don't they? Kind of like, "Oh yeah, I am supposed to be doing something kind of funny, maybe." So we end up with the lame, disconnected, irrelevant-and-thus-not-funny shit that was smeared onto this pile of humorless garbage.

Landon: I add to the total $1 for every comment and $5 for every blog post. At the end of each month, I will donate that amount to a charity. December's charity is the ASPCA.

I decided to do this after the million fanboy bitched "don't you guys have better things to do with your time?." So now my waste of time helps out a charity. (I make monthly donations anyway, this is on top of that.)

"As far you thinking Randall should focus on scientific or joke material(one or the other, right?), xkcd was always a mix of the two. I don't see the need for him to pick one or the other."

I think I didn't make myself clear enough. I was talking more about *focus*, not about choice, as if you couldn't mix the two. This update doesn't focus on either: thus, the scientific context is extremely shallow, and the humour is contrived and sparse. A reasonable number of good gags would probably make this a much better update. I think it's the only thing that could save it, because as a "scientific" item, as I said, it's just an item of empty fashion.

The first friend I made in college (engineering school, total sausage festival) was named Randy. He was a nice enough dude, but made the classic blunder of secretly harboring a crush on me all year and then freaking out when other dudes entered the picture. You know, essentially the scenario depicted here but without the hooking up part. However, that's an easy enough mistake to make when you're 18 and inexperienced in dating. Usually the college experience beats people down enough to realize that isn't a good way to be. Those that don't get the hint by the time they graduate... well, they end up drawing creepy hyper-sentimental stick figure comics.

I wasn't going to say anything, but I am making this comment for CHARETEH.

I agree that this update makes a strong case for the 'picto-blog' idea. It's not a comic, it's something you'd find in a textbook.

But even with that, I have a few problems- the target audience hasn't really been considered- and one thing that gets on my grits

Where's the derevations? This is just a personal thing, it wouldnt be hard to write down a quick explanation of how he derived the equation.

He's put us in a position where either you already know how he found this relationship- (coz u know science!) and are nonplussed because you already knew this- or you have to basically take randall's equation as given, along with his graph.

I just think it'd be much, MUCH cooler if randall had started off with the equation for gravitational potential energy, and derived his equation- It'd be less "Hey, Science is COOL" and more "Hey, look what you can do with baisic physics! isnt that cool?".

If you get the difference. Adding the deravations I think would make it feel more 'accessible'.

But one thing randall doesn't seem to like is making science 'accessible' (the unwashed masses might spoil it!).

On the other hand, much like the log scale comics, I am of the personal opinion "who gives a shit?" It's just gravitational wells. Woo. I'd be equally impressed by a scanning electron microscope picture of a housefly's genitals.

Haha, did some cuddlefish just say that saying "the video sucks, the comic was pretty decent" is "valid criticism?" What is valid about that? It isn't even making any points.

Ann: "in Britain, indie can be used as a genre! We generally use it to refer to what you call "alternative rock", especially the rockier end thereof - Arctic Monkeys, Kaiser Chiefs etc - even if they aren't actually on independent labels! But the cuddlefish was not British, so it does not matter. If they had been, they would have spelt it "purveyours"."

The use of the word "twee" also set me off that he's not actually using it to refer to a genre, or rather, that he has no idea what anything indie sounds like--he's probably the sort of person who watched Juno and hated the soundtrack and noticed that his friends who are into indie rock liked the soundtrack, and decided that this is what all indie bands sound like. I'd be very surprised if he's not a metalhead or similar.

I would like to point out that the Lord Of the Rings/12 Angry Men/Primer comic was called a poster cash grab on this blog, and it is not available as a poster. I suppose that means it could've just been an unsuccesful cash grab though. But still, it's not available.

I have been operating under that assumption for the past . . . hundred or so comics. I don't know where I got that idea. But it is confusing. These big comics are really obvious poster bait. His fanboys would buy them. Why would he not sell them?

But that made me look in the store, and ARGH I hate that "Just Shy, Not Antisocial" teesh. With a burning passion. No! No! How can wearing that shirt require you to be less shy than just saying "Hi"? If anything, wearing the shirt will make everyone stare at you, whereas that will only happen otherwise when you say stuff.The other thing is that it's so damn smug and cliquey, but I suspect my attempting to make any argument for that will just reveal me to be generally misanthropic, so I won't.

Checking out the store, it's interesting how he claims that the prints are being sold 'Radiohead-style', whereby you set your own price -- except there is a minimum cost of $15, whereas Radiohead allowed you to pay nothing! So it's actually a pretty sneaky ploy to make people feel guilty about paying "only" $15, as if that's some sort of bare minimum and Xkcd is actually being super generous by giving it to you for that much -- really, you should pay a lot more! For comparison, by the way, Wondermark prints are $14, MS Paint Adventures are $14, there is a Hark! A Vagrant print for $16, and Pictures for Sad Children has prints for $14-$15. Granted, qwantz has an $18 print but it's much bigger. In other words, $15 seems a pretty par price, hardly a risky giveaway a la Radiohead. I guess his are signed, but still...(especially considering that Xkcds are usually quite a bit smaller than many others)...

Um, unless there is some stupidly hidden option somewhere, it seems that only about 15 prints are available for sale (for a minimum of $15, although the default price actually seems to recommend that you pay $25!).

"Checking out the store, it's interesting how he claims that the prints are being sold 'Radiohead-style', whereby you set your own price -- except there is a minimum cost of $15, whereas Radiohead allowed you to pay nothing!"\

Also note that the default price is set to $25, whereas on the Radiohead download it was blank and allowed you to make an offer based on what you thought was fair.

"If they are all available as prints, then every comic is a poster grab. Yet, this blog does not criticize every comic as a poster grab. They only criticize comics of a certain format as poster grabs."

Very good! Yes, if every comic is available as a print, every comic is available as a poster. This does not mean that every comic was being actively considered as poster material.

See, what we are criticizing when we criticize poster-grabs is the idea that he made a comic either mostly or entirely for its poster potential. Most of them would not make great posters, unless you really, really liked the comic.

Does that somehow not make sense to you? That when Randall makes something which is obviously intended to be a poster, that it seems like an obvious ploy to get people to buy it as a poster? That people are more likely to buy something which is big and visually interesting as a poster as opposed to something which is small and doesn't have a lot to read or look at on it?

Are you really so stupid you don't grasp that? I find that hard to believe, and I've read a lot of stupid comments on this blog.

We do constantly criticize the things that Randy sells as cynical exploitation of his fanboys. Really! Any time there's something new in his store, it's usually a terrible cashsploitation product and nothing more!

It turns out they aren't all available as prints, though, which renders your complaint even dumber (on several levels). I think I assumed when I saw "XKCD prints now available in the store" that he meant "all XKCD comics are available as prints" instead of just "a few random ones I think you guys will buy."

Since he hasn't apparently gone that route (which, why the fuck hasn't he?), it is even more blatant that he is trolling for poster bait--hoping the fans will bite and demand it, or maybe just waiting a few months, so he doesn't look like he was planning it all along.

Not a few days after he made the Height comic, it was a poster, and I think that was really suspicious-looking. He has not made a new poster since then, and only one new print. I think he is biding time until he can add a new batch of posters without everyone thinking he's being cynical. Or, to view it with less cynicism, he's posting in the hopes there will be an explosion of demand for it so he can make it a poster.

Also, to harp on about the prints/donations, because it really pisses me off:

For someone who clearly likes to think of himself as the defender of the people against sneaky corporate/media manipulation (see: his comic about the bailout and billion vs million), he's doing a pretty comprehensive job of conning his fans into giving him more money. Even if we disregard the Radiohead untruth, he's manipulating anyone who wants to buy a print or donate (keep in mind that it's not at all difficult to set up a proper donation system; many websites that have less exposure and commercial potential than Xkcd and are run by people less tech savvy than Randall do).

If all you really want to do is buy a print, it's guilting you into spending more than $15. This, as comparison with other webcomics shows, already covers production costs and hands Randall a healthy profit. However, the donation system suggests that $15 is a bare minimum price and in all fairness more should be paid. This is exacerbated by the fact that the default price is $25, so to pay the minimum you actively have to type in a cheaper price, which may make some people feel 'cheap'.

On the other hand, if you genuinely for some reason want to make a donation, Randall is essentially encouraging you to pay him twice. You are forced to by a product, thus giving him the regular profit there, but your Xkcd-focused altruism is then likely to propel you to give added money.

Moreover, it's either terribly presumptuous or bad business sense (or both) to set the minimum donation essentially as $15 (plus shipping!). Essentially, to 'donate' to Xkcd, you're looking at a minimum outlay of about $20. Even if you are so enthusiastic about a webcomic that you'd be willing to donate, this is quite a hefty sum. Most of Xkcd's audience would consist of high school and university students, who are likely to have less disposable income than most, and there are plenty of other causes far more worthy than Xkcd to which to donate. $20 would for many people be a relatively substantial part of the donation budget. So in other words, people would then be spending less money on worthy causes (bad for the world) or just choose not to donate to Xkcd (bad business for Randall).

Hey guys I found this bad webcomics wiki the other day, and they basically say that randall needs a blog instead of a comic. Did anyone here write this or is this not such an isolated opinion after all?

Uh, Person #1, the author of that article is definitely not in the target audience of xkcd, and doesn't agree with this blog on everything. Both of these outlandish claims are easily backed up by quoting one paragraph from there:

"But in a way, this is porn. XKCD is porn for anyone who loves pi, who loves resistors, who appreciates Fourier transforms, who loves C language, or at the very least, who understands what the hell this is. I still can't figure it out. I can't fault Munroe for targeting these audiences, but I can fault him for alienating any readers aren't at the level of an uber-science god. Not everybody has a PhD in physics. Over time, Munroe has improved at making his work more relatable to us mere mortals, but a lot of shit will still go over the average reader's head."

We fault Randall for having made his shit more accessible to high school students lately; the author of that article faults Randall for being inaccessible to middle school students.

yeah, but that's besides my point. First of all, he also says it's ok that he has a target audience and seems to be focusing on the lazy art, but my point is not the general review, but rather this:

Like I said, this comic is the very picture of Asperger's disorder. XKCD is sooooo fixated with its nerd-groping that nothing else matters. Not the art. Not the characters. Nothing. There are some who say that the art does not matter, and that the writing is powerful enough to carry this comic, but when a creator provides readers with this…boyfriend.png

…And calls it a "comic", I'm forced to ask what's the point in making a webcomic if it's all about the words? If you like writing text, Munroe, they have these wacky things called blogs. Keep your text as text and leave the webcomicking to creators who can draw worth a damn.

Basically, what I was saying was that if no one from here wrote this, then it's another source saying he should get a picto blog

Actually, however you pronounce your name COVIZAPIBETEFOKY, I believe that that article was written forever ago, otherwise they would have jumped on how low key and standard his references are now, that and I don't think they touched on 631 and that is still ripe with things to say pertaining to the idea of "holy fucking shit, who in their right minds would ever think this could pass as an entertaining comic anywhere?"

"But that made me look in the store, and ARGH I hate that "Just Shy, Not Antisocial" teesh."

It is without a doubt the worst thing available in the XKCD store, and it's been available since way back when XKCD was still fun. I hate the text with such a burning passion, it's almost unreal. (Hands up if you hear that Roxette song for the Super Mario Bros. movie now. Mine is up.)

I hate the idea of xkcdsucks creating shirts, but I still think the "I'm an asshole. Don't talk to me!" shirt idea is brilliant.

I never paid enough attention to the prints option, but that pricing thing is amazingly dickish. Suggesting that you pay $25 (for a single fucking print!) when the minimum price is $15 is bad enough, but suggesting that you can set your own price when you have to pay a $15 minimum is just being an asshole.

Wednesday's comic: why would a midget in a Darth Vader costume have force powers?

Holy shit, if someone talked that way about Asperger's syndrome to my face, I'd beat the shit out of them. Seriously, WTF is that guy's problem? The fact that someone made a shitty web comic is no excuse for such a vitriolic attack against a whole class of people with a psychological disorder.

It's just silly because 'decade' can refer to any 10 year span of time. When I tell people "I was a vegetarian for a decade," nobody assumes I practiced vegetarianism between some specific start and stop date; they realize I started on some arbitrary date and stopped ten years later. Insisting that we can't celebrate the end of a decade tomorrow night because CE started 2,008 years ago is just wankery-- obviously what people are intending to celebrate is the end of the 2000-2009 time range.

...And using Asperger's as an insult is kind of weaksauce, especially because what people think Aspies are like is based off people going around claiming they have it to excuse their social ineptitude (I took a survey on the Internet! I totally have it!) and not from actually ever meeting someone who has the disorder.

What's wrong with being a metalhead? Lots of metal (especially the stuff that major metalheads are going to be listening to these days) is released on INDEPENDENT labels.

I'm not a big fan of metal myself, but I despise this form of indie rock elitism which makes a virtue out of music being released by "indie" labels, while ignoring all the genres where independent releases are the norm in favor of watered down rock music that fits the dominant musical paradigm well enough that all of the indie scenesters favorite "indie" bands will eventually sign to a major label and "sell out".

If "indie" isn't a genre, and releasing music on an independent label is enough of a virtue to make said music worth listening to (rather than just being the basis for wannabe-elitist posturing), then stop listening to Radiohead (the most overrated band ever) and pick up some metal, bluegrass, industrial, "jam bands", punk, etc. and show some support for all of the independent music out there, not just the stuff that falls in the "indie rock" GENRE.

...And using Asperger's as an insult is kind of weaksauce, especially because what people think Aspies are like is based off people going around claiming they have it to excuse their social ineptitude (I took a survey on the Internet! I totally have it!) and not from actually ever meeting someone who has the disorder.

That said, I know some people who do have genuine Asperger's, and they're all total douchebags.

Have I told anyone my hypothesis that most communication on the Internet takes place between people who have become high-functioning autistics? That is, most Internet communication occurs without body language, physical proximity, tone of voice, or any of the hugely important nuances of nonlinguistic communication that are extremely hard for autistic spectrum people to parse. Thus, we can only read emotional state by judging big, broad strokes, like the use of ALL CAPS or tons of smileys. Admittedly, we have introduced a few mechanisms to communicate extralinguistic signifiers, like the aforementioned caps and smileyes and italics, but autistic people can still piece together the significance of a few broad gestures and deduce basic emotional states from that information.

So, because our communication is so radically pared-down simply by virtue of the medium, we're all acting as high-functioning autistics.

====

"Indie" as a genre baffles me, since according to Wikipedia Death Cab for Cutie is indie but they were also on the soundtrack of a major motion picture that made six hundred million bucks. Generally, I assume that anything I've heard on the radio can't possibly be indie.

Although I listen to metal, metal, and almost nothing but metal (mostly due to laziness, I swear it's not because I've decided that I dislike all other genres) so I clearly have no idea what I'm talking about.

"What's wrong with being a metalhead? Lots of metal (especially the stuff that major metalheads are going to be listening to these days) is released on INDEPENDENT labels."

Metalheads are emotionally stunted fucks, is what is wrong with being a metalhead.

"I'm not a big fan of metal myself, but I despise this form of indie rock elitism which makes a virtue out of music being released by "indie" labels, while ignoring all the genres where independent releases are the norm in favor of watered down rock music that fits the dominant musical paradigm well enough that all of the indie scenesters favorite "indie" bands will eventually sign to a major label and "sell out"."

Indie is not a genre. Indie rock is, albeit one that is almost as useless as the term "alt rock" these days, and about as descriptive; indie pop is; there are lots of different genres within

"If "indie" isn't a genre, and releasing music on an independent label is enough of a virtue to make said music worth listening to (rather than just being the basis for wannabe-elitist posturing), then stop listening to Radiohead (the most overrated band ever) and pick up some metal, bluegrass, industrial, "jam bands", punk, etc. and show some support for all of the independent music out there, not just the stuff that falls in the "indie rock" GENRE."

Metal annoys me; I have lots of music by independent bands which range from genres such as math rock to alt country to bluegrass to anti-folk. Not sure what you're getting at here. I value indie music (as a culture, not a genre) because it exists outside of the mainstream. This doesn't mean that indie music is automatically good, just that it is part of a culture that I value, and that I am more drawn to it than mainstream music.

What you are complaining about is the opposite of elitism, though. Indie is not a genre; it is filled with all sorts of different genres and if you are categorically dismissing it as "generally awful" you are an ignorant fuck.

"Although I listen to metal, metal, and almost nothing but metal (mostly due to laziness, I swear it's not because I've decided that I dislike all other genres) so I clearly have no idea what I'm talking about."

I should probably clarify that "metalhead" refers to a type of person, not merely someone who listens to metal. It's a cultural phenomenon. There are plenty of metal fans who are not idiots.

"...I am not in any way remarkable looking so your investigation will be somewhat anticlimactic...."

Anticlimactic? Still, a climax is a climax. Like my freind Bilious C. Pudenda says: "If I have to seduce you, it's not worth it" You must post a link to your visage yourself - otherwise it's not worth it.

Did you know that hamsters are hindgut fermenters and must eat their own feces in order to digest their food a second time?Guinea Pigs are to be preferred - they are not hindgut fermenters and when you tire of them they can (and should) become 'cuy'!

I'm not gonna lie, this new "Xkcd", called "Force", amused me. It's very unlike the usual "Xkcd", and it's a good strip. . . Although it would have been, like, five times better if done by a good artist.

Rob,I don't think you are capable of critical thinking, so I'll try to lay it out for you very very simply.

Nearly every comic of a non-standard format is automaticallly called a poster grab on this blog.

Very few, if any, standard format comics are called poster grabs.

A non-standard comic was recently called a poster grab on this blog(12 Angry Men, etc.).

That comic is yet to be offered as a poster in the xkcd store.

Also, a comic from the same period is already being offered as a t-shirt(by popular request, apparently), so it isn't about taking the time to create the poster.

I completely understand why people criticize his comics as poster grabs. That is what I'm calling into question though, especially when this post called it a poster grab without giving any reasons other than implying it was so strictly based on its format.

Keep looking like an idiot if you'd like, though. You're the anti-cuddlefish. Sometimes you are just wrong. You should let it go.

"I don't think you are capable of critical thinking, so I'll try to lay it out for you very very simply."

That's nice! It would probably help if you actually were capable of reading and understanding what I had to say.

"Nearly every comic of a non-standard format is automaticallly called a poster grab on this blog."

Randall doesn't have a standard format. But yes, every comic which consists of a large "full size" version which cannot be seen entirely on a screen and which is usually a large, relatively visually interesting chart which consists of fine details, the likes of which someone would notice if they were standing by the poster and reading it.

In essence, whenever Randy makes a poster, we call it a poster grab.

"Very few, if any, standard format comics are called poster grabs."

This is because none of them would make good posters. The format makes for good comics, though, since it is a comic format. I know I explained this.

"A non-standard comic was recently called a poster grab on this blog(12 Angry Men, etc.)."

Acknowledged.

"That comic is yet to be offered as a poster in the xkcd store."

See my previous post for explanations as to why this might be. In sum, it could be that Randall doesn't want people accusing him of posting comics with the express purpose of making posters, or it could be that he is doing poster grabs in the hopes that popular demand for posters will be enough to merit the making of one. I expect it is the latter. He is trolling for posters without actually asking "would anyone buy this as a poster?"

"Also, a comic from the same period is already being offered as a t-shirt(by popular request, apparently), so it isn't about taking the time to create the poster."

See previous comment. Not that t-shirts are the same as posters.

"I completely understand why people criticize his comics as poster grabs. That is what I'm calling into question though, especially when this post called it a poster grab without giving any reasons other than implying it was so strictly based on its format."

IT IS AN OBVIOUS FUCKING POSTER.

"Keep looking like an idiot if you'd like, though. You're the anti-cuddlefish. Sometimes you are just wrong. You should let it go."

It's true, I am frequently wrong! I am also very good at acknowledging it (see: earlier in this thread). I am not wrong in this instance, however.

I'm sure this person will be back when the "comic" is made into a poster and admit Rob was right.

I'll confess. I love xkcd, I was at one of the book-launch parties, I am a fangirl. But the Darth Vader comic was absolutely phoned in. Randall should take a break, travel, get his heart broken again, and come back.

Or, perhaps, he came up with an idea for a comic that is best expressed outside of the standard comic format*. However, back to what I originally stated, I appreciate you giving some reasoning behind calling it a poster grab(even if I don't agree). You aren't wrong in calling it a poster grab, though you aren't right either. You were wrong in trying to refute my post by equating a print with a poster. You just should've kept your mouth shut.

Only an idiot would equate t-shirts with posters. I was simply stating that he has had ample time to turn that comic into a poster. You are dense.

* - This would be 3 to 4 panels, in case you don't understand what I mean(using Sunday funny papers as standard). Sorry, I thought "standard comic format", which xkcd employs more often that not, was pretty obvious.

"Or, perhaps, he came up with an idea for a comic that is best expressed outside of the standard comic format*. However, back to what I originally stated, I appreciate you giving some reasoning behind calling it a poster grab(even if I don't agree). You aren't wrong in calling it a poster grab, though you aren't right either. You were wrong in trying to refute my post by equating a print with a poster. You just should've kept your mouth shut."

Let the backpedaling begin!

See, the prints are sized appropriately to the comics in question, due to sizes changing all the time. If it is a poster-sized comic (note: we only universally call them poster grabs when they are poster-sized) then it would be a poster-sized print. It would be a nice poster, but a poster nonetheless.

"Only an idiot would equate t-shirts with posters. I was simply stating that he has had ample time to turn that comic into a poster. You are dense."

Then you were simply refuting a point I did not, in fact, make. And missing my point in the meanwhile: his t-shirt people are probably not the same as his poster people. So merely because he talked to his t-shirt people does not mean he talked to his poster people. And as I said previously, he probably wants to wait so it doesn't look like a poster grab, or he didn't get a lot of "I want that as a poster!" feedback. Neither scenario makes it less of a poster grab.

"This would be 3 to 4 panels, in case you don't understand what I mean(using Sunday funny papers as standard). Sorry, I thought "standard comic format", which xkcd employs more often that not, was pretty obvious."

You actually said "standard format." Your exact words: "Nearly every comic of a non-standard format is automaticallly called a poster grab on this blog." Since the only comics we call poster grabs are the ones which have a "click to view the larger version!" I assumed you meant "standard format for XKCD," which is "a comic which looks like a comic, as opposed to being a poster." We don't think that his woodpecker comic etc, which are "non-standard format" by your bullshit definition, was a poster grab. We think that the obvious poster grabs (and EVERYONE KNOWS WHICH ONES THESE ARE) are poster grabs.

Like, do you disagree that they would be better as posters than as comics?

His prints and his posters don't overlap. The prints are print-sized, the posters are poster-sized.

"Not that t-shirts as the same as posters."

You were, in fact, trying to infer that I was equating t-shirts with posters. Anyone with half a brain could see my point in bringing that up. Face it, dipshit, it could be a poster grab, it could not be. Stop trying to act like it definitely is.

The woodpecker comic was a panel comic. Many panels, yes, but a panel comic. You wanna call all large, single-panel comics poster grabs, fine, just don't be surprised when someone calls you on your bullshit.

"Like, do you disagree that they would be better as posters than as comics?"

I just saying that he may have something to express that isn't best expressed in a standard* format. You're blinded by your hatred, which is a shame.

"His prints and his posters don't overlap. The prints are print-sized, the posters are poster-sized."

Yes, and that would not be the case if all of the comics were available as prints (since the poster-sized comics are poster-sized, so they would be poster-sized prints and hence, prints).

"You were, in fact, trying to infer that I was equating t-shirts with posters."

I was implying that you seemed to think that because he added t-shirts from a given period, he was not going to add the posters from the same period for some reason. Which, given that you are a complete and utter fuckwit, is a reasonable assumption--and I'm still pretty sure that's what you meant, given that you've already started the backpedaling.

"The woodpecker comic was a panel comic."

It did not have a "click to view the larger version!" button, and we didn't call it a poster grab. It was not a poster. It was a comic. Do you not know the difference? It is really patently fucking obvious and everyone in the entire goddamn universe including XKCD fans agree with me on this point.

The only thing that has me surprised here is that someone who is capable of operating a computer is dumb enough to think that it is somehow bullshit to call a blatant poster grab a blatant poster grab. You are the only person who doesn't think it's a poster. Bully for you, you can't identify rudimentary fucking objects. IT IS A POSTER. THAT IS WHAT THIS IS. If you saw this printed or drawn out on a piece of paper you would say "oh neat, a poster."

"I just saying that he may have something to express that isn't best expressed in a standard* format."

And I'm just saying that the format he used to express it is that of a goddamn poster.

"You're blinded by your hatred, which is a shame."

Yes, calling something a poster is the very pinnacle of being blinded by hatred. Here is what I said about the comic: "That [Randy is strapped for cash] was my first thought. It isn't the reason the comic bores me." "These big comics are really obvious poster bait. His fanboys would buy them. Why would he not sell them?"

Yeah, that's seething hatred right there. Or maybe it's "he should make this a poster because it would sell and he'd make a bunch of money." Being a poster does not make something good or bad; it makes it a poster.

And what the fuck do you care if I am blinded by my alleged hatred? (Blinded into calling something a poster, THE OUTRAGE.) Why is it a shame? It doesn't affect you any.

"* - panel-style, dipshit"

So there's this really great punctuation mark called the parenthesis. You might have heard of it. It lets you put asides into your paragraphs and sentences (sort of like this) so that you don't have to look like a fuckwit who thinks that using footnotes in blog comments makes him clever.

Regarding the footnote itself, I'm not sure why you're preemptively defending your ambiguous language. Why not just make it unambiguous? Failing to actually say what you mean is not the reader's fault; adding abusive footnotes to defend your poor word choice only makes your poor word choice look even worse; it does not actually make people feel bad for not seeing it the way you claim to intend.

Well Randy's update had ten times the more effort than you people do on commenting on it. The point is, it's pretty cool. We don't have to be extremely grossed out because it's going to be a poster for him to sell. It's kinda fun to look at for a couple of minutes and move on.

Indie hater "cuddlefish" here, I was referring to indie rock, which is a clear, if somewhat broad, genre defined by bands such as Neutral Milk Hotel, The Arctic Monkey, The Arcade Fire, The Shins, and, yes, Vampire Weekend--and whether or not the band is signed to major label has nothing to do with it! It is lazy journalism, but I don't care because it's an easy label for me to refer to things as. But I usually dislike the whole, broad genre, so I feel confident in saying that, even though I know that there is more to indie than Juno's annoying soundtrack. Sorry that the word twee upset you so much, it was just the first thing I thought of!

Also, I listen to avant-garde jazz and never metal, not that it means anything.

I HOPE YOU READ THIS BECAUSE IT WOULD HURT ME IF SOMEONE ON THE INTERNET THOUGHT I WAS STUPID! HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Don't call things twee when they are not and don't make generic claims w/r/t indie rock as a genre, because it's incredibly broad and includes lots of things that are completely unlike NMH, Arcade Fire, etc.

UGH how many times do I have to SAY it it's not "nerd culture" it's "geek culture"! "Nerds" have no culture. Nerds are the assburgers who always sat in front of the class and were always knew the answer and thought that made them smart. GEEKS are people who enjoy things are corporate-sponsored sports-obsessed society doesn't think is "NORMAL" enough, speculative fiction, roleplaying games, WEBCOMICS, et al. "Geek" used to be an insult, but like the n-word, we took it back and now it's OUR WORD. People WANT to be geeks. It's COOL now. NERDS are NEVER cool.

What the hell is this?

Welcome. This is a website called XKCD SUCKS which is about the webcomic xkcd and why we think it sucks. My name is Carl and I used to write about it all the time, then I stopped because I went insane, and now other people write about it all the time. I forget their names. The posts still seem to be coming regularly, but many of the structural elements - like all the stuff in this lefthand pane - are a bit outdated. What can I say? Insane, etc.

I started this site because it had been clear to me for a while that xkcd is no longer a great webcomic (though it once was). Alas, many of its fans are too caught up in the faux-nerd culture that xkcd is a part of, and can't bring themselves to admit that the comic, at this point, is terrible. While I still like a new comic on occasion, I feel that more and more of them need the Iron Finger of Mockery knowingly pointed at them. This used to be called "XKCD: Overrated", but then it fell from just being overrated to being just horrible. Thus, xkcd sucks.

Here is a comic about me that Ann made. It is my favorite thing in the world.

Frequently Asked Questions

Divided into two convenient categories, based on whether you think this website

Rob's Rants

When he's not flipping a shit over prescriptivist and descriptivist uses of language, xkcdsucks' very own Rob likes writing long blocks of text about specific subjects. Here are some of his excellent refutations of common responses to this site. Think of them as a sort of in-depth FAQ, for people inclined to disagree with this site.